His desire to be seen as a prominent figure and voice in the dressing room was allegedly not to the liking of manager Rudi Garcia and the club’s deputy director general Frederic Paquet.

"LOSC and Mickael Landreau have mutually decided to end their collaboration," read a club press release on Friday. "The Lille club and the international goalkeeper have today signed an agreement to end the contract which bound them with immediate effect."

Landreau had rebuilt his career and reputation with Les Dogues after joining them in 2009, following an uninspiring three-year spell at Paris Saint-Germain.

The former Nantes man was an ever-present mainstay of Lille's Ligue 1 title triumph in the 2010-11 season, and had played 119 consecutive league games for the club.

Landreau had even regained his place in the France squad under Didier Deschamps earlier this season as third-choice goalkeeper behind Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda.

Steeve Elana, who arrived from Brest last summer, replaced Landreau in goal for Wednesday's 1-0 Champions League defeat to Valencia and will make his first Ligue 1 appearance for the club at Sochaux this weekend.

Landreau, meanwhile, has immediately been linked with a January transfer window moves to Bastia, Evian and Toulouse.